Blog

Porsche and Car Care Blogs

By Michael TashjianWhat began as a gag over two years ago has somehow, now, become reality. Ourfriendly German engineers have imagined, designed, and produced an all-electricPorsche named Taycan (‘lively, young horse’). The project is akin to a DisneyImagineer building a ride at Future Land which serves no real world application butsatisfies the demand of a millennial. Forgoing delving into the financial aspect ofelectric cars, it is safe to say it’s going to be a loser for a very long time. Don’t believeit? Just ask Mr. Musk whose product is part of what the 4-door sedan platform is setto compete directly with. Why would this author never be a buyer at this point ofthe Taycan or any electric car for that matter? For one very simple reason: I can fillmy gas tank in two minutes and drive 400 miles or even better, 280 miles whiletowing, to a Metro PCA Driver Ed event.My personal beliefs are not running in parallel with the upcoming consumer in thissegment, however. The 24-40 year old segment, and especially those Californians,have drank the cool aid on anything green. I will not begin to dive into the carbonfootprint an electric car has as opposed to its evil twin, the combustion drivenautomobile. It must be noted, however, that in the passenger automobile space,there has been no evidence on the impact (or lack thereof) on the environment fromthis new car segment.Porsche marketing has almost always proven successful over the past decade whenintroducing a new model line, no matter how silly in our purist eyes it may be andthe E Performance line is no different. This effort did not prove successful for the70 th anniversary for Porsche, though. No big budget marketing campaign with somenew 911 models. Why you ask? In my opinion it is due to the fact that the Porschepurist is no longer the driving force when marketing to the consumer for thisparticular brand. Certainly I have read a few articles of late making a casecontradicting that statement but I must go off the sales number and future modelsexclusively. Far more lucrative of a venture would be to supply mainstream, middleclass America. Gasp. Middle class you say; what middle class? Okay. That’s not whatPorsche is in this for. Without going down that rabbit hole let’s say that most youngprofessionals (or at least upper middle class) interested in a Porsche will be able tolease one so as long as their credit is decent. Even the name Mission E, aka Taycan,aka Anti Christ, showed the true direction of the campaign and branding. Sort ofHenry Ford’s Model T meets the Chrysler Plymouth motto of ‘make it moreexpensive and they will come’ mentality, for those of you who watched The MenThat Shaped America on Discovery. Will Porsche prove to have been on the rightside of this branding realignment? Only time will tell. One gauge would be theacceptance of E Performance into the 911 model line which if the performancefigures add up, should be beneficial to the average track guy/gal. But in the realworld of boards, shareholders, and executives there is really only one measure: thebottom line.

It will not be only the Taycan on this new platform but the likes of a slew of othermarks like Bentley, Audi, and more. According to Porsche AG, half of the Porschelineup will be electric by 2025. Great. This essentially makes the Porsche as weknow it, all but obsolete. The backbone of magic as we know is misdirection. HasPorsche been misdirecting us purists for the past 10 years? What a tick! They have.Currently Porsche has over 40 models when counting the model and sub modelalike. And they have all become more ‘efficient’; half of them are not sports cars, andall but one supercar offering is not hybrid. I won’t even delve into the 992.1 GT3being turbocharged as that certainly seems to be the case.This is going on right here in our little Porsche world. With all change though,comes [some] opportunity. If you’re not into spending 45 minutes picking yournose waiting for your electric car to charge, then join the dark side. Mark my words;us petrol users will become the cigarette smokers, and eventually, the outlaws.First, they tax the hell out of it (gas guzzler), then they tell us we will die from it(cigarettes), then they all but ban it (DDT).So hold onto to your 80’s 911, your 928 GTS, and any Porsche running on good odAmerican…scratch that, Arab crude, as it will be past modern acceptance before youknow it and eventually, be a thing of the past. Just do yourself a favor: stash awaysome gasoline to fill it up too, will ya?

Porsche is a licensed trademark of Porsche, Inc. Formula Motorsports is not affiliated with Porsche, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. All videos and pictures are for entertainment purposes only and are being shared with the Porsche enthusiast for entertainment.